Milpitas, Calif., Feb. 1, 2012 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, announced today it will award $1,000,000 this year in needs-based scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds through its SanDisk Scholars Fund.

Funded by the SanDisk Foundation, which provides philanthropic support to charitable organizations worldwide, the SanDisk Scholars Fund supports the educational goals of women, Latino and African-American students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Scholarships of up to $10,000 per student will be awarded to graduating high school seniors, community-college students, or students already enrolled in a STEM-related course of study.

The fund targets students who have the academic promise to attend college and require the economic assistance to pursue careers in STEM-related fields. Helping talented and qualified students obtain university degrees in science, engineering and technology leads to growth in the technology industry and increases the overall competitiveness of the U.S.

"The goal of the SanDisk Scholarship Fund is to help disadvantaged students to pursue studies in technology and engineering," said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO, SanDisk. "Our hope is to alleviate the under-representation of women, Latinos and African-American students in STEM-related occupations. As U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, said, 'Preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society but is also an economic imperative. The onus to improve education lies not just with our school officials, but with local business partners, philanthropic organizations, community based organizations, higher education institutions, and families as well.'"

SanDisk evaluated a wide range of options to determine how it could effectively enhance academic performance in engineering and technical areas, especially for students from underserved communities. The company believes its focused scholarships will encourage young people who traditionally have had limited opportunities to pursue a STEM-related career.

Program Details The SanDisk Foundation (a corporate advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) is partnering with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, International Scholarship and Tuition Services (ISTS), the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to identify students fitting the SanDisk Scholar Fund's applicant profile, process applications, award scholarships and provide support services to scholarship recipients.

Of the $1 million committed for this year, a portion of SanDisk's Scholar Fund is committed to students attending one of these five U.S. universities: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles and University of Texas-Austin. Funding for STEM-related research grants is also planned and included in this amount.

SanDisk's Philanthropy Focus SanDisk's mission as a company is to enrich people's lives through digital storage anytime, anywhere. Philanthropically, SanDisk supports programs and organizations like the SanDisk Scholars Fund through the SanDisk Foundation that address the needs of communities where the company has a significant presence through donations to non-profit organizations and community groups whose efforts align with SanDisk's core values-innovation, focus on execution, adaptability and agility, teamwork and integrity.

"The SanDisk Scholars Fund deepens our existing philanthropy activities while aligning with one of our Foundation's key focus areas: enhancing academic performance, technology skills and the social development of students from underserved communities," said Mehrotra.

About SanDisk SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market. SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).